Ihsan Bey has been passionate about vegan food since
he was first introduced to vegan cooking in 2003. His understanding
of how difficult it can be to transition to a different diet has driven
him to specialize in preparing vegan food that nourishes the body AND
tantalizes the taste buds.

Chef Bey's monthly
brunches at Grind
House Juice Bar attract people from all over the Baltimore area
to enjoy a variety of delectable vegan menu items. His dedication to
crafting cuisine that exceeds people’s taste expectations has
caused many people to declare, “I can't believe it's vegan!”

Kyle Harvey is the owner and operator of Alternative
Cultures, which specializes in healthy desserts and smoothies. The company
is dedicated to making all natural, delicious, cruelty free foods readily
available to people in the Baltimore area and beyond.

Dr.
Ruby Lathon is a holistic health and wellness educator
who motivates and inspires with her own powerful story of overcoming
thyroid cancer through a plant‐based diet. After learning how
to care for the body naturally, Dr.
Lathon left behind a career as an award‐winning engineer and
began teaching the benefits of plant‐based nutrition. Dr. Lathon
has over fifteen years experience in business development, artificial
intelligence research and development, modeling and simulation optimization
strategies. Dr. Lathon also served as Vice President of an engineering
and management consulting firm. Prior to that, Dr. Lathon was a Senior
Engineer at Sandia National Laboratories, a national security research
laboratory, and also served as a Research Fellow at NASA Marshall Space
Flight Center.

She received a Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the
University of Alabama in Huntsville, and a B.S. in Computer Science.
Dr. Lathon was inducted into the Girl Scouts of Chaparral Council, Hall
of Fame: Women in Science, Technology, & Engineering and has received
several awards and honors, including the National
Society of Black Engineers’ “Technologist of the Year
Award,” and was awarded an assistantship from the National Science
Foundation. Dr. Lathon then served as Nutrition Policy Manager at the
Physicians Committee
for Responsible Medicine where she developed and led a national
grassroots campaign to advocate legislation formore healthful, plant‐based
meal options in the National School Lunch Program.

Dr. Lathon is now a certified holistic nutrition and wellness consultant
and advocate for the life‐saving benefits of plant‐based
nutrition. Dr. Lathon now teaches others how to re‐engineer their
lives to live disease-free.

Brenda Sanders is a community health advocate and
the Executive Director of the Better
Health, Better Life organization. Her outreach has taken her to
many Baltimore communities to conduct healthy living workshops and food
demonstrations. Ms. Sanders' passion for health and wellness is the
inspiration for her Passport
to Better Health and Eating for Life workshops, in which she teaches
how easy, economical and rewarding living a healthy lifestyle can be.

As Executive Director of the Better Health, Better Life organization,
Brenda Sanders has made it her mission to bring the healthy living message
to people in underserved Baltimore communities. She’s conducted
workshops at senior centers and afterschool programs as well as a six-week
intensive series of healthy living classes that was completely free
and open to the public. Brenda Sanders has teamed up with Open the Cages
Alliance for the 2014 Vegan Living Program in an effort to promote the
importance of living a healthier, more compassionate lifestyle. Brenda
will speak Saturday, April 11th, 2015 at VLP Session 3.